Schulweg-Steg Hängebrücke

Right above the Werries lock, at canal km 40.6, is Schulweg-Steg, one of the most remarkable suspension bridges for pedestrians in Germany. The bridge was planned and finished between 1915 and 1917.
The steel suspension consists of riveted band straps that are fixed to the stiffening girders on both ends, thus forming a self-anchored suspension bridge. The design was modelled upon the then youngest and widest suspension bridges in Germany, viz., Kaiserbrücke in Breslau and the chain bridge across the Rhine near Cologne.
The bridge also has to be considered against the backdrop of the artistic reform movement of “Neues Bauen“ (new construction) of about 1910. The modest job in Hamm was still based upon state-of-the-art engineering. It thus attests to a productive collaboration between architecture and structural engineering in the early 20th century and in 1990 thus was listed.
The bridge is also part of the “Route der Industriekultur“ NRW. The light installation by Kirsten and Peter Kaiser from Münster, realised as a project in the regional network “Hellweg - ein Lichtweg“, underlines the bridge’s special architecture in a unique fashion.
Light curtains were installed between the town-gate-like pylons that illuminate the grid-like windows of the pylons as “hammer windows”.
Its rigidity notwithstanding, the double-sided grid’s moiré effect conveys the impression of movement, both at night and during the day.
The bridge is dimly lit. In addition, passers-by trigger up-lights that limn the archways beneath the pylons from below. This light installation underscores the bridge’s special, listed architecture in a unique fashion.

Author: Stadt Hamm
Last changed on 12.09.2007

Categories:
Engineering » Transportation